Hunted
by imaginejorja
Summary: Grissom and Sara are taken by a suspect involved in a serial murder case, can the rest of the team find them before its too late? (ooh the drama)
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: not mine blah blah cry cry

Thanks to: Amorith and Ash – my very first beta's, thanks guys – u both rock

A/N:  Okay so this is my first fic, be kind, be gentle, but most importantly - be honest.  This would never have been written if it weren't for the inspiration given to me by all the talented GS writers out there, especially those at the CSI-GrissomSara Yahoo Group J 

Sara tried not to grin at Grissom's obvious attempt at flirtation.  He was getting quite good recently – something had seemingly loosened him up a couple months before hand, much to Sara's amusement. Despite this, she still had some reservations about this 'new and improved' Grissom.  There had been plenty of times in the past where he'd shown her a glimpse of himself, but it always ended in her own heart ache.

"I think you should go home to bed, Grissom, you look like you haven't slept in days," she said, still grinning.  They were seated in a diner along the strip, reviewing the case they had been stuck on for the past couple of days over some lunch.

Grissom raised an eyebrow at her, "wanna come?" 

Sara's own eyebrows raised, albeit unintentionally, as her grin grew into a full-blown smile.  She was both thankful and slightly annoyed when Nick chose that precise moment to collapse into the booth beside her.  She cleared her throat and broke the eye contact she held with Grissom and turned towards Nick.

"Hey guys! You already finished lunch? I thought I'd catch you in time but I guess not, how's your case coming along? You need any help?" he asked enthusiastically.

"What, don't tell me yours is solved?" Sara asked him.

"Yeah, the husband confessed, gave us everything!"

"Hmm, bastard," Sara muttered as she began to pack up the files and papers in front of her.  

Nick grinned and looked up at Grissom, "so you want any help with this?  From the sounds of it your guy is more of a sicko than mine was… you know the media has named him The Hunter now, 'The Hunter strikes again' and 'Watch out for weirdos people, they could be The Hunter' – what kind of name is that anyway, 'The Hunter'?  Please…"

"No I don't think we'll be needing any help Nicky, we've pretty much got this under control…" Grissom butted in to stop Nick's rambling.

The case that Sara and Grissom had been agonizing over for the last couple of days involved a man who kidnapped his victims for an approximate week.  He then took them to the bush where he let them run for their lives whilst he spent possibly days hunting them as if they were wild animals.  And they had finally found a lead.  At the most recent crime scene Grissom had found a man snooping around the area.  He'd taken his details and over lunch Sara and him had realized that the suspect was connected to at least two of the victims through his classes at college – they were all mature aged students. The problem was finding the evidence connecting him to the murders.

Sara yawned.  "You know, I think _I'm _gonna head home to bed – I can't pretend to be awake anymore," she said making Nick stand from the booth – a bewildered look across his face.

"But my lunch…?" he said in mock hurt.

Sara mock glared at him in return, "Aww Nicky, Grissom's just as good company as I am."

"No, Grissom's about leave as well," Grissom said, smiling slightly at Nick's disappointed response.

"Oh fine, I guess I'll just have to get take away and take it back to the office…"

"Okay guys, I'll see you both tonight," Sara said quickly and left the diner - too many thoughts were racing through her mind and her bed was calling her.

"Guess she really is tired," Nicky said slightly confused at the speediness of Sara's departure.  

Grissom said goodbye to Nick and exited the diner a minute or so after Sara.  As he walked into the parking lot he realized Sara was not actually gone.  She stood leaned up against his Tahoe, arms crossed, looking in the other direction.  Her head turned towards him as she heard him approach.  His head tilted to one side as an eyebrow rose questioningly. 

Sara rolled her eyes at him, "Hey don't get any ideas man – I forgot you drove us, that's all."

Grissom breathed a laugh as he walked to the other side of the car and unlocked it. "Sure, and you couldn't have caught a cab because…?"

They both got into the car and closed the doors, "why would I catch a cab when there is a perfectly…" her sentence was cut short by the man in the backseat as he pulled out a knife and held it to her throat.

Grissom's eyes widened, his body froze.  Sara tried to control her breathing; her frantic eyes found Grissom's.

"What do you want, you want money? Here take my wallet, all my cards…" Grissom reached for his wallet.

"HANDS where I can see them Dr. Grissom – just put them on the steering wheel like a good little CSI."

At the mention of his name Grissom looked into the face of the man who was holding Sara at knifepoint.  It was the suspect from his investigation, the man he had spoken to earlier that day.

"What do you want?" Grissom asked again.

"I want you to drive, let's go on a road trip shall we? That's it, just start the car and, oh, you might want to try and drive a little bit smoother than you usually do – we wouldn't want any accidents now would we?" He held the knife so close to Sara's neck that she flinched, drawing a small cut of blood.

Grissom was furious, but could only do as he was told – slowly turning on the car and shifting into drive.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N thank you all so much for reviewing! You guys kick arse!

~~

"Okay, you can stop just here – careful now," the suspect – Graham Henderson – pointed to a vacant park on the side of the road behind a blue Commodore.  Grissom pulled up as softly as possible, turned off his Tahoe and turned in his seat, giving Henderson the death-glare of the century.

"Now what?" he spat before glancing at Sara for the millionth time and calming down again.

From seemingly nowhere, Henderson produced a gun and pointed it at Grissom, "Now, you get out – then we get out – move over to the Holden in front of you and wait there."

Grissom did as he was told and stood by the Holden, watching as Henderson practically pulled Sara out of the Tahoe and pushed her to stand next to Grissom.  Henderson pulled out a pair of handcuffs and cuffed Sara's left hand to Grissom's right.  He opened the trunk of the car and glared at Grissom and Sara.

"You can't be serious," Sara said, "there is no way we are going to fit in there."

Henderson cocked his gun and smiled.

"On the other hand I have always been curious," she muttered as she began climbing into the enclosed space – pulling Grissom along with her.  

After the two were reasonably settled Henderson closed the trunk, plunging them into darkness.

~~

"What the hell is going on?" Sara finally blurted out, surprising Grissom with how loud she sounded right next to his ear.  They had been driving for hours and due to the lack of oxygen filtering into their tiny space both had unconsciously decided that talking was off the cards.

"I don't know Sara," Grissom sighed, trying to shift position without falling on her.

"Ouch!" Sara gasped, "You know my hand is attached to these cuffs too."

"Sorry, I'm sorry – damn it."

"Hey don't worry, really," her tone softened.  She sighed loudly and rolled her eyes at the situation, "this is ridiculous – you don't think he's going to…"

"What? Take us out to the bush and hunt us down like animals? The thought had crossed my mind," Grissom said sarcastically.  They were both tired, hot, cranky and ready to snap.

"Oh shut up!" Sara hissed back at him.  Grissom sighed.  Sara rolled her eyes again and groaned at nothing in particular. She shifted her weight and felt something jab at her from her pocket.  Her brow crinkled as she tried to remember what was in there.

"Shit," she said as the realization hit her.

"What?"

"Oh my God, we are so stupid!"

"Sara?"  He tried to see her expression but it was no use – the best he could make out was the shape of her head.

"Phone," she groaned, feeling extremely stupid, "in my pocket…"

Grissom cleared his throat and tried to talk evenly, "you're trying to tell me that there has been a phone in your pocket this whole time and you only now just remembered it?"

"Shut up Grissom, just… I can't…" she wriggled around a little and finished with a loud sigh, "I can't get it anyway – I just can't move – its in my back left pocket…"

Grissom sighed, "Hold still."  He groped around blindly for a second before working out exactly how she was positioned.  He grunted as he hoisted himself up to become parallel with her.  "Sorry," he breathed as he heard her wince from the pain in her wrist.

"S'okay," she breathed back – all too aware of how close they actually were.  This was not the time though, she told herself.

Grissom found her back pocket and slid the phone out, "sorry," he said again, but this time it was more out of embarrassment from groping her so intimately. He shifted back into his original position and opened Sara's phone.  The green light made him squint in surprise and Sara could see just how sweaty and dishevelled he looked from the glow on his face.

"Anything?" Sara asked hopefully.

"A bit of signal – I'll call Brass…" he dialled Brass's number and lifted the phone to his ear.  "Damn… voice mail."

"Leave one anyway," Sara offered.

Grissom nodded slightly and waited for Brass's voice mail message to end before speaking, "Brass, it's Grissom – Sara and I have been taken, right now we're in the trunk of a Blue Commodore being driven by one Graham Henderson, main suspect in the case we're currently working on, look we kind of need some help so get out here and try and find us okay?" Grissom hung up and began dialling Catherine's number.  Sara waited patiently.

"Willows," came the voice through the phone.

"Oh Catherine, thank God! Sara and I have been kidnapped… Catherine?"

"Gil, that you? I can hardly hear you – bad line, where are you?"

Grissom sighed in frustration, "I don't know Catherine, you…" he stopped short as he realized the car was slowing down, "shit, the car's stopping – look, tell Brass to check his voice mail can you do that? Tell Brass to check his voice mail!" Grissom blurted out.  The car was completely stopped and they could hear Henderson's footsteps outside.

"Shit!" Grissom said as he tried desperately to hide the phone, fumbling with Sara's hands as she tried to help him.  A blinding light and rush of cool air blasted them as the trunk was opened.

"Well well well, what do we have here?" Henderson snarled as he grabbed the barely hidden phone from Grissom's breast pocket.  Eyes shut because of the bright light beating down on them; they only heard the crunching sound as Henderson completely destroyed their only form of communication to their friends and possible rescue party.

"Get out." 


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: and here it is… I don't _think_ this ones evil…mwaha – thanks to all who are reviewing, its awesome to hear your thoughts – thankyou!

Catherine found Brass in the break room raiding the fridge.  He turned as he heard her approach and rolled his eyes at her, "When are you guys gonna get some food in this joint? I swear it wasn't like this when I was the boss…"

"Have you heard anything from Grissom lately?" Catherine interrupted his moaning, her serious and slightly anxious tone not lost on him.

"No, last I saw him we were down at this mornings crime scene – you know that Hunter guy struck again… why, what's wrong?"

Catherine sighed, "I don't know, I got a call from Sara's cell but it was Griss, it was a bad line but I thought I heard him say something about your voice mail? He just sounded really… weird – and then the line went dead all of a sudden."

"Did you try calling him back?"

Catherine glared at him, "What do you think I am? Stupid? Of course I tried, I called Sara's phone and it was dead and I called his phone but it rang out – he never has the damn thing on him," she grumbled.

"The guy likes his beeper!" Brass tried to lighten Catherine's mood but sighed when the worry didn't dissipate from her face, "Okay – look, I'll go and check my voice mail, my phones in my office."

Catherine nodded, "I'll come with you."

~~

"Ow! Grissom! Ow! Slow down, I can't…" Sara panted as she stumbled after Grissom.  They ran, bounded together, over fallen trees and piles of rocks, through the muddy puddles and under the lower canopy.

"Yes you can! Don't say that Sara, come on – I can still hear him behind us," Grissom struggled to talk as he ran as fast as his legs could go – pulling Sara along after him.  Sara swallowed hard and urged herself on – the screams of Henderson were becoming slightly fainter, but they still rang through her, chilling her to her core.

"You are going to have to run faster than that my friends!" Henderson's shrieks seemed to echo off the trees surrounding them.  He had given them a ten-minute head start – not much of an advantage when both Sara and Grissom were unfamiliar with this area of bush land and were still bound together by the cuffs he had used on them.  

Sara ran on, moving in front of Grissom and taking the lead.  Occasionally they would both turn in the opposite direction – jarring their wrists, causing them to choke out smothered cries.  

~~

"Whoa whoa whoa – kidnapped? Grissom and Sara? Are you serious?" Nick sat in the break room with the rest of his colleagues.  After Brass had checked his voice mail, he and Catherine had called the team together to let them know what was going on.

"But I just saw them a couple hours ago at a diner down the strip!" He continued.

Brass nodded, "I've just sent a couple of uniforms down there to ask around, see if anyone saw anything – I also did a quick background check and this guy, Henderson, is linked to at least two of the victims in the case Grissom and Sara were working on – no doubt they realized this too and the guy went after them before they could get anything linking him to the murders."

"Well how are we supposed to find them? Even if the psycho is taking them out to the bush to play his game with them, how do we even know where to start?" Warrick asked.

"We start with the guy's car – all road crews are on alert for the car Grissom described – unfortunately he didn't give the plate number but the car is the same type that Henderson has registered so if we're lucky then he's stupid enough to use his own car," Catherine went into boss-mode.

Warrick raised his eyebrows at her, "But we still don't know where to look?"

"We'll go back to the original crime scenes – there's only so much bush land in Nevada – sooner or later he's going to have to start doubling up…"

"Lets hope it's sooner…" Warrick murmured to Nick who nodded, still in shock.

"Nick, go back to the listed crime scenes – try and see if you can work out any sort of pattern this guy's been following - or any bush land that stands out that he hasn't already been to – Warrick, you're with me," Catherine ordered.

"And where are we going?"

"Henderson residence."

~~

Their sprint had slowed to a slight stumble, and as they neared the next fallen tree Grissom tripped and fell – bringing Sara crashing to her knees.  They had stopped hearing Henderson's screams about an hour ago, but both did not have the guts to hope that he had stopped looking.  Grissom lay there on the damp ground, his eyes closed, trying to catch his breath. Sara rested on her knees.  She looked at Grissom; shirt out and dirty, hair looking like it hadn't been cleaned in weeks – she suddenly understood exactly what Henderson's victims had gone through before they were killed.  The sheer hopelessness of their situation hit her and as she struggled to catch her own breath she felt the tears build up in her eyes.  She tried to breathe deeply, to stop them from falling but she couldn't.  She looked at Grissom, who was now looking up at her from where he lay, just as the first tear streaked down her face.  Grissom knew how she felt – all he wanted to do was lie in the dirt, curl up into a little ball and cry himself to sleep.  Instead, he sat up and mimicked Sara's kneeling position. He took her left hand in his right, and her right in his left.

"We _are_ going to get out of this Sara," he said, still breathing deeply, "we're going to make it – we have to."

Sara breathed out half a laugh, "Of course we are, yeah I completely believe that."

"Sara…" Grissom tried to sound authoritative; hoping to snap her back into her usual strong willed self.  Sara simply averted her eyes from his gaze, trying furiously to blink away the tears that still threatened to run rampant.

He studied her; trying to work out if she had any injuries she wasn't telling him about.  The small gash on her neck had dried up, her wrist was badly beaten – though no more so than his own – but apart from being utterly exhausted she seemed fine.

Finally, Sara looked into Grissom's eyes.  He gave her a weak smile and squeezed her hands.  They stayed that way for a couple of minutes, still trying to control their heavy breathing, and as the sun finally slipped over the horizon the sound of thunder, and a flash of lighting, filled the newly darkened sky.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N  I apologise for the formatting for this one… it doesn't seem to want to do what I want it to do… hope it's still okay to read though. Enjoy!

"And you're sure it was these two people? With this man?" Nick held up a picture of Grissom and Sara next to the photo of Henderson that was taken off of his driver's license. They stood in the parking garage of the diner that Nick had last seen his two colleagues in. After going through the list of previous crime scenes and giving his report to Brass and air control, he had made his way down to the diner to see if he could find any clues that could help them find Grissom and Sara. He'd found an eyewitness.

  
The middle aged man nodded, "Positive."  
  


Nick crinkled his forehead at the man, "And he had a knife?"  
  


The man nodded again, "Up to the woman's neck."  
  


"Why the hell didn't you report it before now?" Nick asked, feeling the need to punch the guy out.  
  


The man sighed, "I have… Unpaid parking tickets, you know? I was afraid you guys would catch up with me - hey, I'm telling you now though - you'll put in a good word for me right?"  
  


Nick glared at him and shook his head in disbelief. "Did you see which way they went?"  
  


To Nick's relief the guy nodded once more, "Yup, went straight up that a-way," he said pointing down the street.  
  


"Thank you," Nick said, "You've been very helpful."  
  


"Hey! What about those parking tickets?"  
  
~~  
  
"Grissom, it's no use - you're not going to be able to break it… Ouch!" Sara winced as Grissom brought the rock down on the chain of the handcuffs again.  
  


Since the thunder had not stopped, they had felt relatively safe that Henderson would not hear the noises they were making - but Sara was growing tired. Grissom blew out a disgusted sigh, glared at Sara, and threw the rock away from them as hard and as far as he could.  
  


"Damn it Sara!" he growled at her, then winced as he felt her flinch. "I'm sorry," he added in a more gentle tone, "I'm just so tired… I don't know what to do Sara."  
  


They sat against a tree, drenched by the rain that continued to beat down on them. It was almost completely dark except for when the lightning lit up the sky.  
  


He watched her close her eyes and sigh, "We should get some sleep Grissom -I can't remember the last time I was asleep," she said, her eyes still closed. "He wont find us during the night - with no moonlight he could walk right past and not even realize we were there..."

  
Grissom shuddered at the thought of Henderson being that close to them and unconsciously began to scan their surroundings. He felt a hand slip into his own and turned back to look at Sara.  
  


"Please?" she asked hoarsely.  
  


"Here?" he asked dubiously, once again trying to see exactly what was surrounding them. In a flash of lightning he saw a muddy ground littered with fallen leaves and twigs - comfortable was the last word he thought to describe it.  
  


"Well unless you have any better ideas - I didn't exactly see a bed and breakfast whilst we were sprinting through here but maybe I missed it," she said sarcastically, letting go of his hand and sighing in frustration.  
Grissom frowned at the loss of physical contact - they still sat side by side but holding Sara's hand made him feel less alone out here. He grabbed it, interlocking his fingers with hers, "No, I don't have any better ideas - but these are going to be annoying," he said, referring to the handcuffs.  
  


"It's okay, I've worked it out," she said confidently, moving to stand up.  
  


"Where are you going?" Grissom asked, struggling to find his own feet.  
  


"Well, I just realized sitting under the tallest tree in the middle of an electrical storm is not the best idea we've ever had - plus those bushes over there might provide us with a bit more cover from this rain. Come on," she helped him to his feet and guided him to the smaller bushes she had spied out.  
  


"Okay lie down," she instructed. He sat down and waited for her to join him. She didn't. "Lie down Grissom," she said again, bending over so there was no pull on the cuffs. Grissom sighed and laid down on his back.  
  


Sara crouched down next to him, "Are you relatively comfortable?"  
  


Grissom grunted an incoherent response that Sara took for a yes. She laid down on his left side and rested her head on his un-cuffed arm, practically snuggling into his neck. Grissom held her left hand with his right and placed them on his chest. She breathed a sigh into the side of his neck, making him close his eyes and unconsciously hug her closer to him with his left arm.

  
"You know if we weren't lying in a pool of mud with the rain pelting down on us, freezing our asses off and hiding from a psychopath whose just spent half the day hunting us down like animals so that he can then kill us... This would be nice," Grissom murmured. Sara grinned and closed her eyes. 

After a moment of silence she looked up at Grissom.  
  


"If we don't make it," she said seriously, "will you have any regrets?"  
  


Grissom sighed and frowned, "I'll have a couple," he said honestly.  
  


"Like what?" Sara asked, not even daring herself to hope he'd regret nothing happening between the two of them.  
  


"Sara," Grissom started, "I thought you wanted to sleep..."  
  


"What will you regret? Just tell me one, and we'll go to sleep," she insisted, not feeling the least bit tired anymore.  
  


"I'll... Regret that I couldn't get you out of here - that I couldn't save us. I'll regret dying. I'm not ready to die Sara, I need more time to fix everything - there is too much I still need to do," he sighed and squeezed the hand he was holding. After a pause he turned his head to look at Sara who moved her face away from his neck to gaze into his eyes. 

She swallowed - not sure what was going through his mind - scared that she's misinterpreted his statement. She wished she could see his expression but the darkness hid it from her. Her fear got the better of her and she returned her face to his neck. "I'm not ready to die yet either," she mumbled.  



	5. Chapter 5

A/N Sorry this one took a while! Hope ya'll feel it's worth the wait!

"Sara," she heard him whisper her name.  "Sara." There it was again.  It sounded so much like _him,_ she thought.  She sighed loudly and began to mumble something incoherent.  "Shhh," he whispered again, "Sara you have to wake up now."

She groaned and pulled her eyebrows into a frown.  Where was she?  Suddenly her senses woke up and she realized how utterly freezing she was.  The next sensation was from her saturated clothes, and then the hard ground she found herself to be lying on. Her body hurt - not just her battered wrist – but her legs, her stomach, her back.  Her eyes flew open and she sat up, startled – breathing hard.  Someone was sitting next to her – a man.  She suddenly remembered Henderson and swiveled around to look at the person beside her, panicked.

It took her a second to recognize him – wet dirt streaked across his face, hair flat, untidy beard.  His clothes looked like they'd come straight out of a scene from an Oliver Twist play – tattered and ripped.  He looked exhausted.

"Grissom," she breathed, closing her eyes in relief. When she opened them again she surveyed their surroundings and was surprised at how out in the open they were. "Guess these bushes weren't the cover I was hoping for," she murmured quietly – noticing how silent the bush was.  The rain had almost stopped, falling only softly in the blue morning light.

"How do you feel?" He asked, watching her intently.

She grimaced and twisted her mouth into a small grin, "Great," she said sarcastically.  "I'm ready to get the hell out of this place though," she added more seriously.

Grissom nodded his agreement, "I think we should try and work out our bearings. Last night the sun set in that direction," he pointed to the West, "so at least we have a bit of an idea which way we're going to be going – there has to be a road around here somewhere so if we can just find it, and follow it… we might stand a chance."

Sara nodded, inwardly groaning at the thought of having to move.  She began to stand up anyway, realizing how hungry she felt.  "Don't have any food on you by any chance Griss?" she asked with a grin.

Grissom allowed himself a small, wry smile, "unfortunately not."

"So which way are we going?"

"I guess… North is always good?"

"North it is then," she said with a renewed determination.  

~~

"No pattern at all Nicky?" Catherine half pleaded with her friend.

"I'm sorry Cath, maybe if you look at them you'll find something but as far as I can tell this guy is just going anywhere – most of the crime scenes were in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest so its possible that he's got them there but I don't even think that's going to help us," Nick said dejectedly.

"6.3 million acres," Warrick breathed out, "where do we even begin to start looking?"

"Come on guys – it's a start – Brass has half the force up in choppers and out on the roads looking for this guy's car, it's only a matter of time!"

"Yeah, time Sara and Grissom probably don't have!" Nick said angrily before sighing loudly and staring at the ceiling. The three of them stood in an uneasy silence until Catherine's phone rang, making them all jump. 

Cath flipped open her phone and held it to her ear, "What have you got for me Jim?"

She could hear his distorted voice through the phone – the noise from a chopper making him yell, "We've found Grissom's car!"

Catherine's eyes almost popped out of her head, alerting Nick and Warrick to the breakthrough, "Are you kidding me? Where?"

"Abandoned about fifteen miles north of the US95/I-15 intersection – just near where the Nevada State Highway 157 runs west, looks like our Hunter's taken them to Charleston Peak! We're gonna re-fuel this thing but then we're heading back out here to do a fly by over the area. You might want to send someone out here to check out this car though, Cath," Brass shouted again.

"Yeah! I will," she shouted back, making the two guys in front of her jump again, "tell everyone to keep looking, good work Jim, one of us will be there to secure the car ASAP," she snapped her phone shut and looked, almost happily, at Warrick and Nick, "We've found Grissom's car," she announced.  

~~

Both pairs of eyes widened in terror as they slowed to a stop a few meters in front of a small stream of water.  Grissom glanced at Sara who was staring at him anxiously.  Graham Henderson sat, propped up against a rock, next to the stream – his back to them. Grissom was frozen solid – he knew he'd make sounds if he just began sprinting, but he knew he'd make sounds even if he carefully tip-toed away too.  He frowned to himself – they had definitely made sounds on their way here.  He studied Henderson from the short distance while Sara glanced anxiously around – trying to think of something that would get them away from the man trying to kill them.

Grissom caught Sara's gaze and mouthed to her silently, 'I think he's asleep.'

Sara shook her head, 'It's a trap!' she mouthed back.

Grissom motioned towards the path they had just come from, 'Slowly.'

Sara began to take a step away when something caught her eye, causing her to stop, startling Grissom into bumping into her.  

A muffled 'oomf' came from Sara and she glared at him after quickly checking that Henderson hadn't moved.

Grissom looked at her like she was crazy, 'what the hell are you doing?' he mouthed, slightly animatedly.

She pointed to a small bag, not three meters from Henderson, and cocked her eyebrow at Grissom.  He shook his head vehemently, 'no!'

Sara studied the bag.  He could have a phone in there, she thought.  Some form of communication – food or water too.  She looked back at Grissom who looked like he was about to have a nervous breakdown, then back at the bag.  Was it worth the risk?  She looked at Henderson again – he still hadn't moved.  With a surge of courage she didn't know she had, Sara stepped slowly towards the bag, carefully and softly placing her feet on the ground in front of her. Grissom grabbed her hand, trying to stop her from going but when she turned around and glared at him, he gave her a resigned glance and stepped forward also.

Sara tried to control her breathing as she finally came within reach of the bag.  She reached out slowly – noticing how much her hand was shaking.  She blinked hard and glanced at Henderson.  Her hands closed around the bag just as Henderson's head turned in her direction and he let out an incoherent grunt.  Sara froze, her eyes wide – but realized that he was indeed asleep, and had no idea she was there.  She grabbed the bag, and – guided by Grissom – back-traced her steps until they were both out of sight.

Then they ran.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N Thanks to my beta's again, and everyone who keeps on reviewing – you guys are awesome!!

"Sneaky, little pricks!" Graham Henderson cursed to himself viciously, throwing a tin container down in disgust.  "They took my back-pack right from under my nose!" he thought to himself before kicking the same container violently into the small stream of water he had fallen asleep next to.

"Right," he exhaled sharply, "if they want to play – I'll play," he grumbled to himself as he opened a duffel bag and began to take out his assorted weaponry. He looked through the trees that surrounded him, suddenly paranoid that they were closer than he first suspected – watching him, laughing at him.  "Animals," he muttered and finished gathering his weapons before striding purposefully in the direction that Sara and Grissom had fled just minutes before.

~~

Grissom tried to control his breathing as he and Sara dove to the ground behind some bushes, wincing for the millionth time from the pain the hand-cuffs were inflicting upon his wrist. He grabbed at Sara's arm, pulling her closer to the ground and towards him.  She was also breathing hard from the full on sprint they had just undertaken.  She looked down at the bag in her hand and opened it, quickly dumping its contents onto the ground in front of them.  They both found it difficult to assign the right words to the objects in front of them due to the panic and alarm bells raging in their minds.  Grissom blinked and tried to concentrate.  Chocolate, duct-tape, a hand gun, some sort of small metal balls (no word for them), some paper and a small metal key. A key! Keys to the hand-cuffs! He exhaled quickly as he grabbed for the keys, just as Sara grabbed for the gun.  They glanced at each other, both sporting slightly amused and quizzical expressions.  

Sara held her breath as Grissom inserted the key into the small hole on the cuffs.  She couldn't believe it when she felt the hard metal around her wrist loosen.

"Oh thank God," she whispered as Grissom removed them from her wrist completely.  He just nodded, lightly grazing her wounds with his fingers before snatching back at the hand cuffs and throwing them back in the bag.  

He looked back at the gun in Sara's hand, "That could come in handy."

She grinned, "I was actually hoping for a phone.  Something tells me this isn't going to be much help."

Grissom shrugged and looked back at rest of the discarded objects, "you said you were hungry right?" he picked up the block of chocolate and ripped off the paper – offering her the food.  She broke off a bit and sighed as she felt the sweet flavour dissolve in her mouth.

"Never has chocolate ever tasted this good," she said and grinned at him as he nodded his agreement.

"I don't think I want to know what these are," Grissom said, picking up one of the metal balls, "they look like they might hurt."

"You thinking of the latest victim? All those bruises on her body – from memory they were about that size."

"So what are you thinking? Sling-shot maybe?" Grissom suggested, raising an eyebrow at her.

Sara nodded, "Yeah maybe."  She picked up the pieces of paper and unfolded them.  "Well, I am 99% sure I know where we are," she said and showed him the map.

"Charleston," he stated unnecessarily.

Just then Sara heard a noise from somewhere not too far away, and swung violently around, scanning their surroundings.  Grissom snapped his head around too and then met Sara's eyes, asking a silent question.

"I think we should keep moving," she whispered, beginning to get up again.

"Wait," Grissom whispered back at her.  He threw everything back in the bag again and slung it over his shoulder, "we may need this stuff later."

Sara nodded, still grasping the gun tightly, and looked around again, "Come on, lets get going."

Grissom stood up, remembering that he wasn't physically attached to Sara anymore, and grabbed her free hand, "This way," he said simply, and began to lead the way through the forest.

~~

"It takes all three of you to check out a single car now?" Brass asked pointedly, smiling slightly at the sheepish expressions on the faces of Catherine, Warrick and Nick.

"Oh shoosh Jim," Catherine mock-glared at him, "you know why we're here – I'm riding with you!" she ordered, pointing to the chopper behind him.

Brass grinned and nodded, "and what about you two?" he asked Nick and Warrick.

"We're gonna join the ground search crew," Nick stated, a hint of determination in his voice.

"Okay," Brass raised an eyebrow, "so who's gonna process the car scene? It still has to be done Catherine."

"We know that," Catherine smiled wryly making Jim crinkle his eyebrows.

"So who's processing it?"

"I am," came a voice from behind him.  Brass swivelled around, coming face-to-face with Greg Sanders.  

He raised his eyebrows and turned slowly towards Catherine shaking his head, "I'm not gonna say anything," he sighed and motioned for her to follow him to the chopper.  

Catherine grinned and slapped Greg on the back as she walked past him, "You know you probably wont find a thing – but either way, I have complete faith in your abilities!"

Greg puffed out a laugh, "Just keep telling me I'm helping Grissom and Sara by doing this – that's all I need!"

Nick and Warrick grinned and waved goodbye as they ran back to their car.

"Later Greggo!" Nick yelled out the window as they passed him in the car.

Greg rolled his eyes, "yeah yeah," he said as he turned towards Grissom's car – his new crime scene.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N  rating has been bumped up due to naughty words – thank you everyone who is reviewing, you are all such awesome people!

The sound of gunshots filled the otherwise silent forest and Grissom and Sara instinctively dove to the ground mid-stride. 

"Holy shit!" Sara whispered frantically, looking around wildly, trying to figure out where the shots had come from.

"They were close," Grissom breathed, also looking around, "too close."

At that moment a shriek of joy sounded from seemingly nowhere, followed by more shots.  The ground around them began to bubble and Sara realized that the bullets from Henderson's rifle were the reason.  

She glanced at Grissom, "we have to get out of here – we have to get away from him!"

The gunfire stopped momentarily and Grissom risked pulling his head up and looking around them again.  He saw Henderson, crouched down next to a tree, reloading his rifle.

"Quickly now!" he said, grabbed Sara by the arm and began hauling her up.

"Hey!" Henderson shouted, "Where do you think you're going!?" He dropped the rifle next to him and picked up his sling-shot, aiming for Grissom.

Grissom and Sara paid no attention - sprinting out of there, over rocks and fallen trees, as fast as they could. Grissom cried out in pain as the first metal ball came in contact with his right shoulder.  He stumbled slightly but kept running.

"What? What's wrong Grissom!" Sara panted, slightly in front of him.

"Nothing," he yelled back before another metal ball struck, this time in his calf muscle, making him unconsciously gurgle an incoherent cry.

Sara had no idea what was going on and turned her head slightly to look back at Grissom.

"Keep going!" he yelled at her and reached out, pushing her forward.

She tripped, but gained her balance again, her long legs carrying her forward as fast as they would go.  She could hear Grissom's breathing behind her, a constant reassurance that he was still there with her.

Henderson's screams still echoed off the trees and after them.  More shots from his rifle rang out, hitting the trees next to them and the ground in front of them.  Then it was Sara's turn to scream out in pain as a bullet found its way into her left thigh.  She stumbled and slowed down, too quickly for Grissom to realize what was going on, causing him to crash into her and fling them over the side of a cliff that had suddenly sneaked up on them.

~~

Nick sighed and sat down on a fallen log.  He took a swig from his bottle of water and looked around him.  Numerous men and women in uniform littered the forest, searching their surroundings for any sign of Henderson or Sara and Grissom.  Warrick walked towards him and sat down beside him. Nick offered him his water and Warrick took it gratefully.

"What do you think Warrick? Are we even close?"

Warrick sighed, "I dunno Nick, I hope so." He looked up as a helicopter flew by and unclipped his radio from his belt, holding it to his mouth, "Ground unit 4 to air unit 1."

The radio crackled back at him, "Go ahead Warrick," Catherine's voice sounded.

"How are you guys going up there, you seen anything?" Warrick asked hopefully.

"No, we're going to widen the search area out of Kyle Canyon and into Carpenter – you guys should get a team out that way too, I'll keep you posted."

"Okay we'll get onto that, ground unit 4 out."

Warrick clipped his radio onto his belt again and looked at Nick who was already standing up and ready to start searching again.

"Lets go!"

~~

"Oh God Grissom," Sara groaned quietly at the bottom of the cliff, struggling to sit up.

"Shhh," Grissom said glancing up the cliff to see if there were any signs of Henderson.  He looked back over at Sara and felt a sharp pang in his chest; she looked terrible.  "Sara," he whispered on the verge of panic, "tell me you're okay!"

Sara closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, "I'll be okay," she said, unaware of the tears streaking down her face.  She winced as she managed to sit up, looking down at her leg.  There wasn't a lot of blood, but there was enough to make her heart to skip a beat.  "I got shot," she said without emotion, glancing up at Grissom who was now inspecting her leg.  

Grissom exhaled shakily, "Okay," he said calmly, trying desperately to ignore the panic stricken voices that filled his mind.  "Okay," he said again and looked up at her face.  

"You'll need to tie something around it Grissom, to stop the bleeding," Sara ordered softly.

He looked around them and grabbed at the backpack that had fallen down next to them.  Then he ripped off one of the arms of his shirt and began tying up the wound, trying desperately not to hear Sara's short cry of pain.  He brought the duct-tape out of the bag and taped it securely over the shirtsleeve.  "I knew this would come in handy," he said to himself.  Sara, meanwhile, was trying desperately to keep her composure.

"Can you move? I don't think it will be long before Henderson finds a way down here," Grissom said once he had finished.

Sara nodded, "I'll need help," she confessed.

Grissom simply nodded, "Here, hold on to me," he held her hands and leaned towards her, pulling her hands around his neck.

"Okay," she breathed and held on to Grissom as he slowly stood up, using her right leg to help them reach a vertical position.  Once standing she shifted her weight completely onto her right leg and kept her left arm around his shoulders.  Grissom put his right arm around her waist and turned his head to look at her.

"Okay?" he asked, noticing her face was screwed up in a painful expression.

"Oh God," she whimpered and then exhaled sharply, "lets just go Grissom, oh wait! The gun, I dropped it, where is it?"

Grissom scanned the base of the cliff with bleary eyes and finally spotted the gun.  He helped Sara walk over to it and, making sure she was okay just resting on him, bent down to pick it up.

"Okay," he said, "we should go now."

And so they began hobbling slowly away from the base of the cliff – with no real destination in mind, except for away from the lunatic somewhere above them.


	8. Chapter 8

"I'm sorry," Grissom whispered, hearing Sara wince every time he stumbled over a rock.

"S'okay," she mumbled, afraid that she would soon pass out from the pain in her leg.

They'd been stumbling around aimlessly for a while now, with no indication from Henderson as to whether he was close or not.

Sara sucked in a sharp breath and let out a whimper.  The blood from her leg had begun to seep out the sides of the duct-tape and she began to realize just how isolated they were from any help.

"Okay," Grissom said, coming to a stop.  He sighed, "It's gonna be faster if I just carry you now Sara."

Sara closed her eyes, "It'll be a lot faster if you just leave me here and…"

"Don't be stupid Sara!" Grissom whispered ferociously, causing her to jump with surprise.  It made perfect sense to her for him to leave – his chances of getting away from Henderson would increase dramatically.  But the angry look on his face told her he didn't agree with her one bit, making her sigh out another shaky breath.

"Come on," Grissom said more gently, bending down in front of her, "lean over."

In any other situation Sara probably would have laughed at the thought of being slung over Grissom's shoulder, but right now the only emotions she was feeling were negative.  Still, she leaned over his right shoulder and tried to get comfortable.  Grissom grabbed her right leg to steady her, mindful of her left thigh and hoisted her up.  Then he stood up, grunting a little from the newly acquired weight, and looked around.  

"This way I suppose."

~~

"So there was nothing at the guy's house?" Brass yelled to Catherine over the noise of the helicopter.

She shook her head, "Complete waste of time!"

Brass sighed, "We'll keep looking as long as we can, it'll be night soon and those storm clouds don't look as though they want to go away."

"We can't give up Jim!" Catherine said forcefully.

"We wont!"

~~

"Grissom, please.  We have to stop, I – I need to sit," Sara pleaded, hanging limply over Grissom's shoulder.  As much as this was quicker, the pain in her thigh had not lessened – if anything it had become worse with all the jerking going on underneath her.

"Just a little further Sara, I promise, I just want to get us to the other side of this stream," he panted; secretly glad at the request for rest.

They paused momentarily while Grissom came to the edge of the stream and assessed the best path across it.  It wasn't running extremely quickly, but with his lack of sleep and major exhaustion, Grissom didn't want to take any unnecessary risks.

"Okay," he breathed out, stepping carefully into the water.

On the other side, Grissom gently let Sara down and rested her against a tree.  Her eyes were closed and for a moment in which Grissom's heart almost jumped out of his chest, he thought that she was dead.  Then she groaned in pain and he let out the breath he had been unconsciously holding.  She opened her tear-laced eyes to find Grissom kneeling in front of her.

"You should go, Grissom, I'm only slowing you down," she whispered.

He shook his head at her, "Go where? I have no idea where I am going Sara. It may be selfish of me but I don't particularly want to be walking around out here alone.  We will get out of here together, you hear me?" he added, a hint of determination still apparent in his voice.

"I don't think I can…"

"Yes you can Sara, don't think that," he reached up and held her face so that she was looking into his eyes, "you can do this."

She tried to move her face away from his gaze but his hand stilled her there.  She closed her eyes instead.

"Sara," he whispered, "please."

She opened her eyes, and seeing the desperation in his, reached up instinctively to touch his face. 

After a moment, Grissom broke the intense silence and dropped his hand to rest in between her neck and shoulder.  "You want some water?" he whispered.  She nodded and tried to smile.  He stood up, causing her hand to slip from his bearded face and into her own lap. 

"Okay, I'm going to come right back and get you some water but right now I…er, right now I – uh I really need to pee," he apologetically, causing a grin to form on Sara's face.

She cleared her throat and raised an eyebrow at him.  He swatted her good knee gently and smiled, "I'll be right back."

She sighed and looked over at the stream, this place would be quite pretty under different circumstances, she thought.  She drummed her fingers restlessly on her good leg and looked around the forest.  It was so big, if Brass and Catherine had even gotten the messages from Grissom how would they even begin to try and find them?  Well, she thought to herself logically, they'd probably go to Henderson's house and there would have to have been some clues there – maybe some maps on where his favorite places to hunt are marked – that would be good, yes that's what they would have done.  She nodded her head absent-mindedly, deciding that it was really only a matter of time before Catherine and the gang came bounding along up to them with medical supplies and comfy blankets that she could just crawl on into. Or, thought the pessimistic side of her, they might not have even realized she and Grissom were missing.  Or they do know and they didn't get any leads and they're running aimlessly around the bush with no idea at all where to find them.   Sara sighed.  For some reason the last idea seemed the most plausible of the lot.  If Henderson was smart enough to get away with murder before, she doubted he'd have anything lying around his house to give him away.  She remembered seeing some other bags at Henderson's campsite – he probably brought everything along with him.  She bit her lip and tried to stop thinking. Then again, all this thinking was diverting her attention from the searing pain in her thigh. They're coming, she thought. Nicky and Warrick and Cath and Brass, they're all coming – they'll find them, her and Grissom will get out of here.  Grissom.  Where was he?  She realized she'd been sitting there for some time now having arguments with herself about how long it would take her friends to find them, Grissom should be back by now.

She glanced around her more nervously, afraid to call out his name in case enHHenderson was close and would hear her.  Her heart began to beat faster, he wouldn't have left her there would he?  If he was going to leave why did he tell her so adamantly he wasn't going to?  More tears began to prickle her eyes as her breathing became faster.  He wouldn't, she thought angrily to herself.  Would he?

Just then she felt the cold metal from the barrel of a gun come to rest against her neck.  Oh God.  She froze and tried to control her breathing.

"Where is he?" an evil whisper hissed into her ear.

Sara shuddered and tried to turn around, but the barrel of the gun pressed more firmly into her neck, causing her to instinctively snap her eyes straight ahead.

"I… I don't know," she croaked out, "he left me here some time ago."

"Bullshit!" Henderson hissed again, "he's around here somewhere," he paused and Sara swore she could hear him sniffing her.  "I'll find him…"

She heard the click of a gun, signaling that it had been cocked and was ready to fire and closed her eyes.  They flew open again when she heard his voice.

"Don't move."

This time she was able to swivel around, relief coursing throughout her whole body when she saw Grissom standing over Henderson with a gun pointed at the psycho's head.  She quickly registered that it was in fact Grissom's gun that had been cocked and breathed a wavering sigh of relief.

Henderson began to laugh quietly, looking joyously at Grissom, "I knew you would be different Mr. Grissom  - all the others, oh it was so quick, sometimes all it took was a couple of hours!" He sounded almost exasperated at the memories.  "I mean animals – they don't think, all they do is run.  They're predictable!  People, on the other hand, people are completely unpredictable.  I was getting frustrated – the others were so disappointing," Henderson had turned to completely face Grissom now – Sara was seemingly forgotten.

"Put the gun down, Graham," Grissom said, masking the fear in his voice with an even monotone.

Henderson laughed again, "put the gun down? Yeah…"  He swung quickly, knocking the gun swiftly out of Grissom's hand and into the stream.

Grissom grabbed Henderson's wrist, trying to grab his gun but Henderson resisted – it fired loudly in the air.

Sara's eyes were wide with fear, she was completely paralyzed – not from fear or shock, but because the pain in her leg had just become even greater.  She tried to drag herself away from the scuffle, wishing that there was something she could do but knowing she was helpless.

She looked frantically around trying to find something – anything – that she could use to help Grissom subdue the guy until some movement in the trees finally caught her eye.

Was that a person running towards them? Wait, more than one person? She blinked through her bleary eyes, "Nicky?" she croaked out unbelievingly. She must be hallucinating, she decided.  If that really loud noise would just quit filling her head with unnecessary information, she'd be able to think straight and know what to do to help Grissom.  What was that noise anyway?  It sounded like a helicopter. Definitely delusional, she thought again. She looked over towards Grissom and Henderson again and winced in empathy as Henderson brought a heavy fist down and into Grissom's temple.

"Don't move don't move!" the mirage that looked like Nick screamed over the loud beating of the rotor blades. He rushed towards Henderson and Grissom, gun drawn and aimed.  "Put the gun down now!" He ordered to Henderson.

Then another figment of her imagination came running by her – this time it looked strangely like Warrick.  He had a gun drawn too.  Someone she didn't recognize ran past her next, followed by another person she didn't know.

She looked over towards Grissom again, who was now crawling towards her on the ground.

"I thought you left me," she said when he arrived.

He grabbed her hand in his own and shook his head, "Never, Sara – never," he breathed out, before turning towards the group of people and shouting, "we need medical help over here now!"


	9. Chapter 9

A/N  So this is the last chapter of my first fic – I've put off posting it for a while now but here we go.  Please let me know what you thought of it – all your reviews have been so so so awesome and really warmed my heart.  So, thankyou heaps for reading, Merry Christmas to you all, and one last huge thankyou to my betas, Amorith and Ash! 

Sara glided expertly through the halls of the Las Vegas crime lab on her newly acquired crutches.  She grinned as she approached the DNA lab and saw Greg wheel out the door and into the hall in front of her on his computer chair.

"And what the hell are you doing back here so quickly?" He asked, matching her grin equally.

"Hey Greg, had to do my statement upstairs – thought I'd come and see how much everyone is missing me, or maybe no-one is?" she said in mock hurt, still grinning.

Greg rolled his eyes, "Miss you?  I miss you when you have one night off Sara! I think it's a pretty safe bet to say I have been completely miserable these past few days.  Hey, how's your leg doing?" He said, motioning to her crutches.

"Oh I'll be back before you know it Greg," she began moving past him and towards the break room, "I promise."

Greg grinned and wheeled himself back into his lab.

~~

"Hey! Sar! What are you doing here?" Nick stood up from where he sat on the couch and moved over to give her an awkward hug.

"Hey Nick – I'm just visiting, you know me – can't stay away," she grinned.

"No kidding – thought you would have gotten as far away from Vegas as possible for your vacation?" Catherine strode in to the break room, flashing her a friendly smile.  "It's great to see you're okay Sara," she added.

"Thanks Cath," Sara grinned and looked around, "don't suppose you know where Grissom's hiding out do you?"

Nick grinned, "Yeah, he's uh, on the roof," he said giving Catherine an amused smile.

Sara raised an eyebrow at them, "What's he doing on the roof?" She asked, Nick and Catherine's smiles making her grin.

"I think he said something about reflecting…" Nick said.

Sara looked to Catherine for more conformation but her friend simply nodded, "Yep –reflecting is definitely what I heard!"

~~

He heard the door open and close behind him and sighed. He had told Catherine he just wanted some time to himself, but he supposed she was worried about him again.  He turned around, about to tell her that he was fine, but came face to face with Sara instead.

"Sara!" he said, his surprise evident.

"Hey," she grinned and hobbled over towards where he sat.

He stood up and held out his hands in a gesture of help and she swung the two beer bottles she was holding out towards him, "Here – take, before I drop!"

He grinned and took the bottles as she came to sit down next to him.

"Wow!" she said, looking out at the view before her.

"Yeah it's pretty amazing – sun's about to set too," he said, sitting down and handing her one of the now opened bottles. "How are you?"

She nodded her head, "I'm better – but I think I've had enough near death experiences these past couple of months to last a life time," she grinned at him, but Grissom understood the serious implications of her words.

"Yeah, bit of a wake up call though," he said; now looking out and over the city in front of them.

Sara nodded and sipped her beer.  "Thank you," she said, causing him to turn to her and furrow his eyebrows in confusion.  "For… being so strong out there – for not leaving me…" she finished, letting the sentence dangle.

"Sara," he said softly, turning so that he could watch her, "there was no way I was leaving you there."

She smiled at him and nodded, "I know – but, I dunno, I just wanted to say thank you, I guess."

They both sighed thoughtfully and sat in a contented silence as the sun set over the city of Las Vegas.

After a while, Grissom turned back towards her, "So, you never actually answered my question you know," he said, a hint of playfulness in his voice.

Sara turned to him, confused, "What question?"

Grissom titled his head and glanced away from her, "Oh you know," he said casually, "Before all this started – in the diner when we were so rudely interrupted by Nick."

Sara raised her eyebrows at him.  He was flirting with her again, causing her to grin at him.

"No," she said innocently, "Sorry, I don't remember – everything's still a little fuzzy."

He turned towards her again and grinned back at her, "Oh well, your loss," he said simply.

Sara snorted then, "I think not Grissom – more like _your_ loss."

Grissom raised his eyebrows at her, "Yeah, you're probably right."

They both grinned again and sat for a while, sipping at their beers.

"So…?" Grissom said slowly, unable to hide the gigantic grin permanently plastered on his face.

Sara looked at him incredulously, "So what?" 

Grissom, in a surge of confidence, leaned in towards her – but Sara simply raised one eyebrow at him and leaned away. He was about to utter a million apologies when he realized she was grinning playfully at him – she was teasing him.

"Huh," Grissom managed to sigh out, relieved, happy, excited and still slightly confused.

Sara looked down and shook her head in amusement and then, just as suddenly as Grissom had, leaned towards him and planted her lips on his.

Grissom sighed unconsciously and closed his eyes, moving forward a little to place more pressure on her mouth, opening his slightly. Sara followed his lead and deepened the kiss.  

After a while, she slowly pulled back from him and grinned at the dreamy expression he sported before snapping back to reality and focusing his eyes on hers. 

"Was that a yes?" he said smiling.

"You want to come to bed with me?" she stated, meaning to only make sure that this was the topic he was referring to.

"OK," he said as if she had asked him the question, smiling playfully.

Sara grinned, her mouth slightly open in shock of his audacity.  She stood up and reached for her crutches and began to glide away from him.  He watched her from where he sat, as she came to a stop in front of the door that led downstairs and back to the labs. She turned back towards him with an expectant look on her face.

"Well," she said exasperatedly before grinning at his bewildered expression, "What are you waiting for?"

Grissom jumped up and practically ran across the roof towards her, "Nothing!" he said, matching her playful grin, coming to a stop in front of her and opening the door for her, "Nothing at all."

THE END


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